As you know, this school year, I moved from teaching second grade to kindergarten. While the jump of only moving down two grades, doesn't seem like much of a change; it has however, been a HUGE adjustment. I love it, I really do. These little ones are just starting their academic career. They enter the building each day with excitement and wonder. Everything, EVERYTHING is new to them. This year, I also have a large number of oldest or only children. So not only is school new to my students, but their parents as well. One of the questions that many parents had at Kindergarten Sneak Peak and Parent Orientation was, how often do you use iPads within your classroom, and will my child do on the iPad all day? Which that got me thinking, what is the appropriate balance of device versus "traditional" learning within my kindergarten classroom.
My sweet little kindergartners struggle with hanging up their coats and pushing in their chairs, let alone turning on an iPad, let alone proficiently use an iPad to navigate to an app. While at the same time I was struggling to find the perfect balance of iPad time and authentic hands on activities within my classroom. Over the last 52 days of school, I've started to learn via trial and error, what this balance of screen time looks like within my classroom. There are so many vital academic skills that my students need to learn, like holding their pencils, learning their letters and the sound each letter makes, counting, identify shapes. Yet, many of these skills can be reinforced through the use of our iPads during literacy or math centers. Students can also use our iPads to share their thinking with their classmates, parents, and myself. However, how much is too much time on the device each day? What is the proper balance? According to Beth Holland's article on Edutopia, "Mobile devices have the potential to provide amazing learning opportunities as well as great distractions."
How are the devices being used within your classroom?
Are they providing learning opportunities or great distractions for your students?
I don't teach elementary school, but I worry about the amount of screen time both as a teacher and as a parent. My daughter goes to a school where she is not given a one-to-one device, and I am thrilled. As a teacher, I know that my students are learning from their devices. And since the devices are no longer a novelty, they really aren't a distraction anymore. Like you, I struggle to find a balance between traditional teaching methodologies and those involving technology. When I use technology, we are typically using subscription sites or other free applications. Using the Google Suite to collaborate is also a go-to use for their Chromebooks. I still have reservations, but I feel that if I'm going to be a 21st century teacher, I need to embrace 21st century technology, but I will always try to strike a healthy balance and do what I think is best for my students.
ReplyDeleteErika- You made a really great point. My students are using the devices to enhance their learning, which they enjoy doing, but it has an academic focus. I️ think it is helpful that the students don’t see them as toys. It’s important that teachers are aware and do think about the balance. We’ll see what happens in the future.
DeleteThis is a question I've also struggled with teaching Kindergarten. I have always seen technology as a huge asset, but with these youngest learners I feel that it is especially important to find a balance. It's true that EVERYTHING is new to these kiddos and we have to teach them so much more than the academics. I have noticed over the past few years that so many of my students are motivated by "screen time" and when looking at the questionnaires parents fill out coming in to Kindergarten, the answers for "how long does your child spend watching tv or on a computer/ipad?" astound, and sometimes sicken me. While I see so much benefit with technology, this year I have used it with more intentional purpose, mainly because I see a greater need to build the SEL competencies of this specific group of students than I have with my past classes. I fear too much time on a device is taking away that face to face connection so while I still use technology to reinforce and support literacy and math during centers (10-15 minutes at a time), a small change I made this year is if a student has iPad time for literacy centers, they will not have it for math in the same day. Seesaw usage on the other hand is a different story as I want my students documenting learning they are proud of and I also create "missions" for them to complete, normally two/week. If it is their Seesaw Mission day, they may be on a device for up to 30 minutes that day if they also had it during a literacy or math center, but it is not 30 minutes all at one time. Overall, this year I've found the devices to be more of a learning tool than a distraction, whereas in the past I can't always say that was true. Limiting the time and truly looking at the purpose has helped a lot. I've also tied targets to the apps so students have a better understanding of why they are using ABC Magic or Find the Sums, which I think helps because they know how the app is helping to grow their reading or math brain.
ReplyDeleteCourtney— what a great idea to call it a “mission.” My kids beg to get on SeeSaw and show what they know. I’ve been hesitant to share SeeSaw with parents, but I️ think I’m going to share their accounts, as the students are SO proud of their work.
DeleteJessica, I find this a struggle in first grade, too. Many parents are concerned that there's too much but this year I have parents telling me the opposite - their child needs to be on the iPad more. However, when my students are on the iPad we also talk about the technology learning target that they're meeting at this time. This helps the devices to be a learning tool rather than a distraction. My first year of DLI, my students loved exploring during indoor recess and created amazing projects - they were then very focused with the iPads when it was used for instruction.
ReplyDeleteStephanie, I like how you call it a "seesaw mission day" for the days when they are on SeeSaw. Can you expand more on how you structure the rotation for this and an example of a mission?
Lauren- great idea to review the technology learning target. This is something I️ want to add tomorrow!
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